As the hurried frenzy of the holidays descends upon us, even the most mindful diners can get caught up in the seasonal time crunch, losing touch with our dining experiences. Take a break and linger over the stories and messages behind a new cookbook by Iowa chef Kurt Michael Friese for a hearty serving of appreciation for our food sources: A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland.
As a Wisconsin farmer myself, it tickles me to see the spotlight on the Midwest’s rich culinary scene once again. Too often we get stereotyped by dominating images of corn and other tasteless monocrops. Sadly, this burgeoning, vibrant local, sustainable food scene goes unnoticed.
But as Friese so aptly summarizes of his passion for our nation’s heartland, historically many great centers of the world’s diverse culinary heritage have centered on the core of a nation’s grain belt, such as France, German, India or China. This inspired Friese to deeply explore thirteen Midwest states – from Ohio to Oklahoma to North Dakota – to discover some of the most innovative, sustainable and creative culinary practices around today.
From farmers to chefs, markets to community ventures, A Cook’s Journey emphasizes the importance of interconnection and interdependency in creating a vibrant, localized food system. While the book showcases tempting specialty recipes, Friese poignantly admits in the introduction that he didn’t intend to write a cookbook. Drawing on his experience founding the first Slow Food convivium in Iowa (today there are five) and his roots as the chef and owner of Devotay in Iowa City, Friese authentically narrates the stories of Midwesterners doing extraordinary things to start turning the tides of our complex food system that offers great food grown where we actually live. Imagine that.
A Cook’s Journey particularly offers an inspiring read during this seasonal time of year, when we’re all looking for a hearty helping of hope for the future. Friese provides the stories and context, leading readers to come to their own lessons such these three insights:
1. Seek Your Maker
You can’t help but start planning a roadtrip after reading the profiles in A Cook’s Journey. And the great part about that is: you can. As travel and the local food movement increasingly intersect, there wonderfully exists a bounty of experiential opportunities, from farm visits to winery tours. A rich appendix provides contacts and resources by state.
2. Rethink Food Assumptions
Shed your food stereotypes and you will be pleasantly surprised at the vibrant local food and sustainable agriculture scene throughout the Midwest. Granted, people still link corn to Iowa agriculture. But Iowa also has more farmers’ markets per capita than any other state.
3. Leave the Table Satisfied
We may joke about the frenzy of the holiday season, but in reality we all know that crazy-busy mindset lingers the year through. A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland reminds us to slow down and linger over meals around the table. The high-quality, homegrown, artesian food, as celebrated in this book need to be slowly savored and enjoyed, resulting in satisfaction beyond a full belly.
Lisa Kivirist
Lisa Kivirist embodies the growing “ecopreneuring” movement: innovative entrepreneurs who successfully blend business with making the world a better place. Lisa is co-author, with her husband, John Ivanko, of Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, capturing the American dream of farm living for contemporary times. Her latest release, ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits is a compact, dynamic tool kit for a fresh approach to entrepreneurial thinking, blending passion for protecting and preserving the planet with small business pragmatics. As a W.K. Kellogg Food & Society Policy Fellow and Director of the Rural Women's Project, Lisa champions a voice for women farmers and rural ecopreneurs through media, speaking and advocacy work. Lisa runs the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast in southwest Wisconsin, completely powered by renewable energy and considered amongst the “Top Ten Eco-Destinations in North America.” Her culinary focus on local and seasonal cuisine – with most ingredients traveling less than 100 feet from her organic gardens to B&B plates – earned recognition in publications from Vegetarian Times to Country Woman and inspired her cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity. In addition to feature writing for publications such as Hobby Farm Home, Mother Earth News and Wisconsin Trails, Lisa is the lead writer for Renewing the Countryside, a non-profit organization showcasing rural entrepreneurial and agricultural success stories. Lisa also penned Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional’s Guide to Independence. Lisa shares her farm with her husband, their young son, a 10kw wind turbine and a colony of honeybees.
One Response to A Cook’s Journey: New Cookbook Savors Slow Food in the Heartland
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This looks like an awesome book to have. I collect cookbooks, so will definitely be looking to add this one to my kitchen shelf.
Another great cookbook I picked up recently is Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s. It’s got some really fun recipes and is quickly becoming one of my favorites.